I am certainly no beauty queen. Before you begin to chide me, hear me out and please don’t feel badly about my saying this, because it’s true. I’m not going to win any beauty contests. And do you know what? I don’t care. I don’t mean to say that in a bad way, but to be honest, the older I get the more I realize it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter that I’m a little overweight. It doesn’t matter that my teeth a crooked. It doesn’t matter that I have a double chin, and it doesn’t matter that I’m 52. It doesn’t matter that there are some who don’t like me or dismiss me. None of this matters because there is someone who loves me just as I am and in spite of every flaw inside and outside; and I have plenty of flaws. In fact, there’s quite a few places that my personality needs…. Tweaking. From the time that I was a teen until my 39th year, I didn’t like myself very much. I constantly apologized for myself and just couldn’t carry myself with any confidence whatsoever. I’m not exactly sure what changed in my life, but at 40 I began to see that God created me as I am and because of that I am a beautiful person. And that is why my physical appearance doesn’t matter. Now, I must say it is healthier not to be overweight and it certainly isn’t healthier to be underweight, but when it comes right down to it, it doesn’t matter. I am a person whom the Lord created as he did and as such, I am a person he loves. There’s nothing really special about me except that I am loved by God. Once I was able to truly grasp that, things began to happen in my life that has brought me to now live that abundant life Jesus promised to those who trust in him. I found myself able to do that which I dreamed of doing as a child – being a writer- and I found myself beginning to think on a higher level as I began to catch the message God has for me in his Word. It may even be that in that year I began to truly discipline myself to have a daily time with God and read His Word. I know there was a time in my life when I didn’t, then I decided to and began to discover for myself the amazing things God has to say to all of us. The messages in God’s Word weren’t just for me alone. They’re for every human being that has ever been conceived and ever will be conceived. Once I began to see all this, I began to see that some things just don’t matter anymore. John and I do not have the opulence that is craved in society today, but we are wealthy in ways that are more important. John and I are both overweight. I don’t wear makeup and nice clothes. John doesn’t wear a suit. We live in a house we call the projects. We have one vehicle. But John and I live a life of wealth that can’t be seen. We have the kind of marriage every couple dreams of as they listen to the other say, “I do”. We have the joy of a church that embraces us for who we are and we have people outside of the church who often tease us, calling us “cute”. David Crowder sings Oh How He Loves Us. It’s a song that took me by surprise when I really listened to the words.

When I really paid attention to the message in the song, I cried. “Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss/and my heart turns violently inside of my chest/I don’t have time to maintain these regrets when I think about/the way/He loves us…” Wow! To think that our God loves us so much that he’s going to be with us every moment of every day when we ask him to is a love that is hard to comprehend. On the other side of that, God loves us so much that if we don’t want him with us, he won’t force himself on us. He loves us that much. Just like me, God made you just as you are because he delighted in the person you were created to become. We all want to be accepted for who we are, just the way we are. We long to be loved with no strings attached. Although we have people who love us and some who come close to loving us with no strings attached, still there’s only One who loves us just as we are. Yes, it will be a difficult journey when you ask the Lord to walk with you, but He promises to be with each of us and love us even when we make mistakes. Allowing Jesus to walk with us will be worth all the pains and heartaches that come with walking the harder path

Author

Coleen Frazer-Hambrick is a writer and photographer who lives in Oklahoma with her husband. They have raised three boys and now have four grandboys. Along with writing and photography, Coleen and her husband are active members of a Wesleyan church.